Opening Day '12 vs. Opening Day '13

The countdown to Sounds Opening Day sits at 38 days today!

How much has changed in the last year? A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a host of players who appeared for the Sounds at some point last season and had signed elsewhere for 2013. Well, as I was jotting down some notes this morning about a few likely 2013 Sounds, I started to think not just about last season, but specifically Opening Day 2012. Then I realized how few guys on the team as the season began last year are likely to be on the Opening Day roster this year. In many ways, it’s not a shock, as the rosters change so much at Triple-A as the season evolves, free agent signees come about each winter and there still will be many guys who ended the season in Nashville and return to start it here this year. But when you combine the number of guys from last year who since have signed somewhere else with the number of guys from last year who have a strong chance to make the Brewers’ Opening Day roster this year, it certainly looks like Opening Day ’12 compared to Opening Day ’13 will be a very different list.

Just for fun and fodder, this was the Sounds’ 2012 Opening Day roster (players listed that are likely/possibly returning to Nashville for ’13 are in bold…I count only six at this point):

Erick Almonte … unsigned for ’13
Dayton Buller … likely coming back to the Sounds
Brooks Conrad … will be playing in Japan this season
Eric Farris … now with the Mariners
Caleb Gindl … likely coming back to the Sounds
Taylor Green … likely to break camp with the Brewers
Sean Halton … likely coming back to the Sounds
Martin Maldonado … now the Brewers’ back-up catcher
Edwin Maysonet … now with the Cubs
Corey Patterson … now with the Mets
Paul Phillips … retired as player and now working in Nashville as a baseball coach at Lipscomb University
Logan Schafer … likely to break camp with the Brewers
Hainley Statia … likely coming back to the Sounds

Brian Baker … unsigned for ’13
Zach Braddock … now with the Orioles
Josh Butler … unsigned for ’13
Vinnie Chulk … unsigned for ’13
Mike Fiers … competing for a shot to break camp with the Brewers
Victor Garate … now with the Dodgers
Donovan Hand … likely coming back to the Sounds
Mike McClendon … now with the Rockies
Seth McClung … unsigned for ’13
Dan Meadows … possibly coming back to Nashville
Wily Peralta … competing for a shot to break camp with the Brewers
Juan Perez … now with the Blue Jays
Amaury Rivas … now with the Marlins

Recall that Mark Rogers technically was not on the Sounds’ Opening Day roster last year, Zach Braddock was but never appeared in a game for the Sounds, Jim Henderson was added on the second day of the season and likely ’13 Sounds such as Tyler Thornburg, Hiram Burgos, Jesus Sanchez, Khris Davis, Johnnie Lowe and Rob Wooten all came up from Double-A Huntsville later in the season.

I and some fellow Sounds front office folks will be at Brewers camp less than a month from now, at which point I’ll have more coverage of how the Sounds are shaping up for this season. Right now, a good chunk of the roster is up in the air, dependent on the Brewers’ roster. Some questions that need to be answered:

-Which of the Rogers-Fiers-Peralta trio make the Brewers’ starting rotation? If one or more doesn’t, is that player Nashville-bound or headed to the Brewers’ bullpen? (Rogers is almost certainly not coming to Nashville because he is out of minor league options, meaning if the Brewers want to send him to the minors, Rogers first would be available to be claimed by another club. And he would be claimed given his potential and talent)

-Does Hunter Morris have a huge spring for the Brewers and play his way into the first base job in Milwaukee until Corey Hart returns?

-Does Jeff Bianchi, who, like Rogers, is out of minor league options, make the Brewers’ roster?

-Does Taylor Green make the Brewers’ roster to help fill the void from Hart’s injury?

-Who claims a spot in the Brewers’ bullpen to join John Axford, Jim Henderson (who says he’s not approaching the spring as if he’s guaranteed a spot), Burke Badenhop, Michael Gonzalez and Tom Gorzellany? Is Brandon Kintzler in that group? What about flame-throwing righties Johnny Hellweg and Michael Olmsted?

What a great time of year!

Thanks for listening! (On the Air…and Off)

Jeff

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